People who bought this also bought...

Race Matters

A master teacher and preeminent analyst of America's racial dilemma bridges the gulf between races in this national best seller. Cornel West is a professor at Harvard's Divinity School and Department of Afro-American Studies. He is the author of many books, including Prophetic Fragments, and with bell hooks, Breaking Bread.

Unspeakable

Chris Hedges has been telling truth to (and against) power since his earliest days as a radical journalist. He is an intellectual bomb-thrower who continues to confront American empire in the most incisive, challenging ways. The kinds of insights he provides into the deeply troubled state of our democracy cannot be found anywhere else.

White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son

Using stories from his own life, Tim Wise demonstrates the ways in which racism not only burdens people of color, but also benefits, in relative terms, those who are "white like him". He discusses how racial privilege can harm whites in the long run and make progressive social change less likely. He explores the ways in which whites can challenge their unjust privileges, and explains in clear and convincing language why it is in the best interest of whites themselves to do so.

Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement

In these newly collected essays, interviews, and speeches, world-renowned activist and scholar Angela Y. Davis illuminates the connections between struggles against state violence and oppression throughout history and around the world. Reflecting on the importance of black feminism, intersectionality, and prison abolitionism for today's struggles, Davis discusses the legacies of previous liberation struggles - from the black freedom movement to the South African antiapartheid movement.

White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide

As Ferguson, Missouri, erupted in August 2014, and media commentators across the ideological spectrum referred to the angry response of African Americans as 'black rage', historian Carol Anderson wrote a remarkable op-ed in the Washington Post showing that this was, instead, 'white rage at work. With so much attention on the flames,' she wrote, 'everyone had ignored the kindling.'

The Black Presidency: Barack Obama and the Politics of Race in America

A provocative, lively deep dive into the meaning of America's first black president and first black presidency, from "one of the most graceful and lucid intellectuals writing on race and politics today" (Vanity Fair).

Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul

America's great promise of equality has always rung hollow in the ears of African Americans. But today the situation has grown even more dire. From the murders of black youth by the police to the dismantling of the Voting Rights Act to the disaster visited upon poor and middle-class black families by the Great Recession, it is clear that black America faces an emergency - at the very moment the election of the first black president has prompted many to believe we've solved America's race problem.

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

In the era of colorblindness, it is no longer socially permissible to use race, explicitly, as a justification for discrimination, exclusion, and social contempt. Yet, as legal star Michelle Alexander reveals, today it is perfectly legal to discriminate against convicted criminals in nearly all the ways that it was once legal to discriminate against African Americans.

The Souls of Black Folk

“The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line,” writes Du Bois, in one of the most prophetic works in all of American literature. First published in 1903, this collection of 15 essays dared to describe the racism that prevailed at that time in America—and to demand an end to it. Du Bois’ writing draws on his early experiences, from teaching in the hills of Tennessee, to the death of his infant son, to his historic break with the conciliatory position of Booker T. Washington.

Who Rules the World?

In an incisive, thorough analysis of the current international situation, Noam Chomsky argues that the United States, through its military-first policies and its unstinting devotion to maintaining a world-spanning empire, is both risking catastrophe and wrecking the global commons.

Jen says:"Makes you realize those who scream conspiracy are closer to the truth than we would hope!"

They Can't Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America's Racial Justice Movement

Conducting hundreds of interviews during the course of over one year reporting on the ground, Washington Post writer Wesley Lowery traveled from Ferguson, Missouri, to Cleveland, Ohio; Charleston, South Carolina; and Baltimore, Maryland; and then back to Ferguson to uncover life inside the most heavily policed, if otherwise neglected, corners of America today.

The Fire Next Time

At once a powerful evocation of his early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice to both the individual and the body politic, James Baldwin galvanized the nation in the early days of the civil rights movement with this eloquent manifesto. The Fire Next Time stands as one of the essential works of our literature.

Wages of Rebellion

Revolutions come in waves and cycles. We are again riding the crest of a revolutionary epic, much like 1848 or 1917, from the Arab Spring to movements against austerity in Greece to the Occupy movement. In Wages of Rebellion, Chris Hedges - who has chronicled the malaise and sickness of a society in terminal moral decline in his books Empire of Illusion and Death of the Liberal Class - investigates what social and psychological factors cause revolution, rebellion, and resistance.

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention

Of the great figure in 20th-century American history perhaps none is more complex and controversial than Malcolm X. Constantly rewriting his own story, he became a criminal, a minister, a leader, and an icon, all before being felled by assassins' bullets at age 39. Through his tireless work and countless speeches he empowered hundreds of thousands of black Americans to create better lives and stronger communities while establishing the template for the self-actualized, independent African American man.

Profit Over People: Neoliberalism & Global Order

Why is the Atlantic slowly filling with crude petroleum, threatening a millions-of-years-old ecological balance? Why did traders at prominent banks take high-risk gambles with the money entrusted to them by hundreds of thousands of clients around the world, expanding and leveraging their investments to the point that failure led to a global financial crisis that left millions of people jobless and hundreds of cities economically devastated?

A major new collection from "arguably the most important intellectual alive" (The New York Times). Noam Chomsky is universally accepted as one of the preeminent public intellectuals of the modern era. Over the past thirty years, broadly diverse audiences have gathered to attend his sold-out lectures. Now, in Understanding Power, Peter Mitchell and John Schoeffel have assembled the best of Chomsky's recent talks on the past, present, and future of the politics of power.

Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority

White Americans have long been comfortable in the assumption that they are the cultural norm. Now that notion is being challenged, as white people wrestle with what it means to be part of a fast-changing, truly multicultural nation. Facing chronic economic insecurity, a popular culture that reflects the nation's diverse cultural reality, and a future in which they will no longer constitute the majority of the population, and with a black president in the White House, whites are growing anxious.

Publisher's Summary

Democracy Matters is Cornel West's bold and powerful critique of the troubling deterioration of democracy in America in this threatening post-9/11 age of terrorist rage and imperial overreach, and an inspiring call for a resurgence of the deep democratic tradition in our country, which has waged war on the forces of imperialist corruption throughout our history.

Praised by The New York Times for his "ferocious moral vision", West, in this vital sequel to his major best seller and contemporary classic Race Matters, returns to the analysis of what he calls the arrested development of democracy, both in America and in the Middle East, with a hard-hitting diagnosis. A callous free-market fundamentalism, an aggressive militarism, and an insidious authoritarianism are driving a bullying imperialism.

But there is a rich and empowering tradition in America to fervent commitment to the fight against imperialist corruptions, and West brings forth the trenchant voices of that great democratizing tradition, from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Toni Morrison, in a brilliant and deeply moving call for the revival of our better democratic.

This impassioned and empowering call for the revitalization of America's democracy, by one of America's most distinctive and compelling social critics, will reshape the raging national debate about America¿s role in today's troubled world.

This book is a joy to read. The key to understanding it however is to learn to read it as more of a sermon on social issues than an intellectual lecture full of well-supported postulating. The reason for this is that he basically glides from point to point without pausing to indulge us in much "evidence." This sounds more dubious from an outsider's perspective than it actually is in fact. You have to maintain the understanding that we are in an age where statistics seem to rule all in the world of policy, specifically on the left. While the right has only just begun to dabble in research and statistics (what with the emergence of pseudo-scientific institutions such as the Family Research Council), the left has seemingly abandoned the trumpet-call of values based purely on a belief structure, for cold, hard, facts.

While I don't necessarily prefer one over the other, I learned to love West's evangelistic approach as one sorely missing from the Progressive side of debate in this country. We've stopped claiming that we should fight poverty simply because it's the right and just thing to do, and instead started quoting figures about how much crime it creates or how much of a city's worth it destroys. West prefers the former approach, and if you're looking for more inspiration in your struggles than perspiration, this is the perfect choice for today's world.

West builds on the factors discussed in "Race Matters" to show how racial and xenophobic imperialistic influences have built a plutocratic government that threatens our democratic existence on a daily basis in this work. A very easy read to understand but an uncomfortable read at times as it shakes the reader to wake up and see what is going on around him.

Cornel West is at his best in describing the changes that he feels that America must undergo in order to deal with the class-ism, racism, poverty and social issues that continue to plague this great Nation.

West is one of the great voices in this country who isn't afraid to take on the Establishment and "tell it like it is".

In Democracy Matters, West talks about America's challenges that she has to face, especially post 9-11 and the social unrest that continues to be a part of the fabric of America. West doesn't hold much back in regards to his thoughts on the ugly history that has annihilated the Native Americans, enslaved African Americans and has an imperial nature to it's core.

West does offers suggestions and solutions in the book as to how to end poverty and help the "have nots" in this country. Of course, they're somewhat controversial, but hey... that's Dr. Cornel West for you!

I'm a student of history, so I can appreciate a lot of what Dr. West speak on. I highly recommend this book... especially in light of the fact the America is celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr's March on Washington, as you'll see how Dr. West connects the dots and tries to get America to live up to it's promises.

I have been a fan Dr. West for many years now and was glad to find this book on audible read by West himself. I like that he keeps a motivating twist on things and points to love over nihilism that our culture keeps finding its self in. I like that he does not fit into the two party system but is NOT a socialist either. Yes he did promote Obama but also chastised him after he fell short after his election. He really cares for people and preaches non violence like his mentors did. If you get a chance listen to his speeches on YouTube first.

Connecting classic definitions of democracy and philosophy with contemporary life issues West has created a masterpiece. His description of the struggle for truth and justice in today's America as a result of the failure of individuals and institutions to engage and honestly evaluate choices in a truly democratic way. Democracy Matters is a deeply analytical work that is a combination of coursework and commentary history and current events. Dr. West traces democracy from its origins and breaks it down in a way that explains why democracy really matters!

As I listened to West read this, I kept wondering, "What rhetorical form is this book aiming to take?" Nothing is ever presented as argument, in the sense of a claim, backed by evidence, supported by reasons. Instead, the rather shapeless text ranges over a wide list of topics, and West simply invokes generalizations in a tone earned only by the oracles in the Matrix movies. If you don't already agree with his notions, there's no way that this book could persuade you to adopt his formulas. His accent gives some words unusual pronunciations (keel (for kill), nekked (for naked), bohemoth, po-ig-nant). I skipped over the Christianity chapter, and finally landed on a great story in the last hour: West gives his version of his collision with Larry Summers. His formulation of Summers' infamous memo to the World Bank -- recommending that third world countries specialize in storing toxic wastes -- is twisted. He claims that the rationale had something to do with African countries being overpopulated; this comes close to the slanderous attribution that Summers aspired to genocide. Since Cornel West is outraged that Summers hadn't read his 16 books, perhaps he could have troubled to read the one page memo, which includes the line "I've always though that under-populated countries in Africa are vastly UNDER-polluted..."